


A Cursed Night

by KieraElieson



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Gen, Magical Creatures, Sort of influenced by Mushishi, Temporary Character Death, Virgil is the one that dies but he does not stay dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:40:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25455598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson
Summary: Patton is witness to the murder of the forest’s guardian, trying his best to ease its passing.But that may not be where the story ends.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt here
> 
> https://write-it-motherfuckers.tumblr.com/post/624374862222426112/write-it-motherfuckers-your-heart-ached-with

Patton’s eyes went wide from his hiding place as the massive creature stumbled, and finally fell. There was a loud, deep keen, and then it stopped moving. 

The men from the village started trickling back. 

Patton waited until he was sure no one would see him, and ran out to where the creature was. The massive pool of sticky black blood nearly made him turn back, but hearing shallow, pained breaths, wheezing in and out made him press on, through with tears running down his face. 

He reached the creature’s head, which was larger than he was, and knelt down in front of it. The creature closed its eyes, waiting without protest. Patton reached out slowly, petting along its nose gently, and aside from an initial flinch, it let him, its breathing getting harder and slower. It opened its eyes, watching him calmly, waiting for its final breath to come. 

Patton wanted to sob. To scream into a pillow about how terribly, horribly unfair it all was! But he didn’t. The least he could do was try to offer some peace and calm at the end. 

The creature’s breath hitched, and a pained whine came from its throat, quiet and small. From there it had even more difficulty breathing, and two purple, glistening tears dripped from its eyes, dropping into the ever-growing pool of blood. 

Patton just tried to give as much comfort as he could, wishing he knew any kind of magic to ease the creature’s pain. 

And then the next breath never came, the body slowly settling as all the muscles went slack. Patton covered his mouth with his arm as the sobs tore out of him. 

Never, never should a guardian such as this be killed! 

And then a sound caught his attention, a tiny, desperate cry. He looked all around, and saw something squirming in the blood where the tears had fallen, trying to get out. 

He picked it up, judging it to be a cat… of some sort. It didn’t look quite exactly like a cat, though maybe that was the blood coating it. It hissed, squirming as soon as he touched it, and bit his hand. 

“Shhh, it’s ok. Let me help you out.” Patton said softly, his voice still thick and hoarse. 

And then the first dark note went up. With a sound almost musical, tiny bits of the creature separated and floated up, disappearing into the night sky with a haunting funeral song. 

Patton didn’t go home that night, walking off into the forest, the cat held in his arms. 


	2. Chapter 2

Patton woke the next morning, feeling oddly drained. It was as if there was just nothing inside him. 

He rubbed his face, sitting up and shaking leaves and dirt out of his hair. The color caught his eye, and made him look at his hand. The two marks where the cat’s sharp teeth had pierced his skin were now a dark purple, and almost shiny. They were small, but his eyes seemed drawn to stare at them, as if they were looking back at him. 

A small sound, definitely not a meow, made him look up to see the cat watching him, it’s head cocked to one side. Patton opened his arms, but the cat didn’t come into his lap, jumping up to sit on his shoulders instead. 

That was fine. 

Patton felt an odd desire to move on. To walk around the mountain, and see what was to be seen. But it didn’t feel like exploring. It felt like watching. Watching something he’d seen all his life to see how it would change. 

So he stood up, and walked. 

The forest was green. More green than it had seemed before, and small creatures skittered out of sight in the shadows as he walked. Something felt off. Out of balance. He was observing. Observing that which was wrong. He reached up and picked a leaf, vibrant and bright green. Far too green. 

Instinctively, he held it up to the cat, who sniffed it and then licked it, and the leaf turned dark purple instantly. Patton buried it at the base of the tree, and the tree faded back into its normal colors. 

This was a war. And he was now a part of it. 


	3. Chapter 3

Time had passed. Perhaps a week, though time didn’t seem to want to agree with Patton’s mind any more. 

The strangest thing was that it seemed to be beginning to be spring. But winter hadn’t even properly started yet. 

Patton knelt and petted the cat, which had grown, and was now as tall as his knee. It let out a short keening sound before rubbing against his leg. 

He stood up. Moving on, and moving up. He had to get to the very top of the mountain. Except for helping the bright green trees, he kept a steady plod. Up. And up. 

He got to the top, and tipped his head to the side in curious confusion. He’d been up here before, but he didn’t remember the ring of dark stones. 

The cat walked inside immediately, touching its nose to each stone and humming a strange growl. It wasn’t like purr, really, but that’s what Patton decided to call it anyway. 

The cat herded him inside the circle, and then touched the last stone. A soft covering shimmered into place over them, like a blanket of stars in a deep purple night. 

Patton laid down, looking up at the stars. His hand pulsed slightly with every shimmer. The cat climbed up onto his chest and curled up, purring in its own way. Patton’s eyes drooped slowly closed. 


	4. Chapter 4

Virgil looked down at the human, so easily trusting. He should be able— his old self— predecessor—- would’ve had no problems taking the soul of a human for extra strength, especially not at such a critical juncture as this. But it seemed Virgil was weak in more ways than one right now. He even was feeling bad about keeping the human trapped in a daze for so long. 

And so, despite the human laying still, nearly asleep, perfectly prepared and vulnerable, Virgil only curled up to sleep on his chest. 

Though despite that, there was almost no way for him to sleep with the thoughts constantly assaulting his mind. Remus was already running rampant, far, far too early and unchecked. If Janus joined him, as he far too frequently did, Virgil could be kept down forever. The balance would be forever shattered. He was  _ meant  _ to be the strongest, to keep the other two in check. He was  _ meant  _ to protect, to give final release, to provide calm and rest and cold. 

He was aware that he wasn’t loved by the humans for being the end of the harvest and for quieting everything, but he hadn’t thought they would go so far as to attempt to kill him. Much less had he guessed that success would’ve been possible. And yet it had. 

And now he had to fix things. 

**Author's Note:**

> This one’s an interesting one. I probably won’t be taking prompts for it, but I think it will continue, in a much more episodic way than most of what I write.


End file.
